Pollock Road to close to through traffic near Old Main beginning June 17

Monday, June 4, 2018

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Effective 5 p.m. Sunday, June 17, a section of Pollock Road near Old Main will close to through traffic, reestablishing the area as a pedestrian zone in accord with Penn State’s long-term campus master plan.

The two sets of gates previously installed in this area will be lowered at that time and remain locked in the down position 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Once this area has closed, vehicle access to Old Main, Lot Brown E, the Carnegie Building metered parking area, and all sections of Lot Brown A will be available only by traveling east on Pollock Road from Burrowes Road, while access to Lot Brown B and Lot Brown C will be available only by traveling west on Pollock Road from Shortlidge Road.

Bicycles will continue to have the ability to travel through the closed section of Pollock Road via a designated bicycle access way running between each set of gates and allowing space for one direction of bicycle traffic to pass through at a time.

“This closure is part of the University’s continuous effort to improve pedestrian safety,” said Bill Sitzabee, associate vice president and chief facilities officer of the Penn State Office of Physical Plant. “With the Pollock Road corridor seeing pedestrian traffic numbering in the thousands during the academic year, we are confident the change will not only increase safety for students, faculty, staff and campus visitors, but also improve pedestrian traffic flow through the area.”

In the early 2000s, kiosk booths were added at each end of Pollock Road to restrict vehicle traffic during peak hours, with metal bollards placed in the roadway near Old Main that were raised and lowered at the start and end of each workday to control vehicle access through this area. However, winter weather would annually create challenges with the bollards, which led to their removal and the installation of the current sets of illuminated gates in the same area.

As of result of the closure of this section of Pollock Road, the recently-introduced Campus Shuttle via Pollock Road service will no longer serve the two stops located near the Pollock Road parking information kiosks. Full details on changes to this shuttle route for the 2018-19 academic year will be released later this summer.

For more information, please contact Susan Bedsworth, marketing and communications specialist with OPP, at sjb5001@psu.edu or 814-863-9620; or Jason Thomas, special projects coordinator with Transportation Services, at jet172@psu.edu.